christmas 2009

believe it or not, we did celebrate christmas this year and it was wonderful. we had all my brothers and sisters home with their adorable babies and it was such a trip. on the 22nd. we enjoyed a wonderful evening of christmas music with several families which was very fun and entertaining. on christmas eve, we got together, opened pajamas and listened to grampa read "the best christmas pageant ever" as is our tradition. the children we so excited and we had a lovely christmas eve. eric and i enjoyed playing 'santa' together in our own little apartment and getting things ready. it was still and quiet and tne perfect night. at around 3am, caleb was on his way to jump into our bed when the flickering lights of the christmas tree reminded him that santa might have come. he sneaked in all by himself and came bounding into our room full of wonder and excitement. i told him that he had to wait until the others woke up though and so he struggled for a while to get back to sleep. maryn woke up around six-thirty and it hadn't quite registered to her that it was christmas....caleb again went on an excursion to the front and came back declaring, "THERE IS ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE!" and indeed there was. we had a lovely peaceful morning and joined the rest of my family for more excitement. eric surprised me with tickets to see michael buble!!!!! caleb got legos and a cars geotrax set. maryn got a few barbies and a hello kitty cd player. joshie got a ride-on fire truck. and eric got new athletic shoes. we also got a gps from my mom and dad and a memory foam mattress topper from eric's parents.....we were all thoroughly spoiled!!! here are a few pictures....



oh yes, and you may notice in the bottom corner the completed anthology of recipes that i have been working on for the past 2-3 years. it has been a TON of work but i am THRILLED with how it all turned out!